Ethan Pinnock | Player of the Year

30 April 2019

It was double delight for Reds defender Ethan Pinnock last Saturday when he was presented with both the Disabled Supporters' Player of the Year trophy and the award for Barnsley FC Player of the Season for 2018/19!

The 25-year-old central defender has played every minute of every league game so far this season, and his imperious but elegant performances at the heart of the Reds' defence have seen him rewarded by Barnsley supporters.

Following in the footsteps of Barry Murphy, Eric Winstanley, Chris Morgan and Marc Roberts, the former Dulwich Hamlet man is the latest defender to lift the prestigious trophy, and he spoke with real pride when we caught up with him this week.

"To get this from the fans is special," Pinnock told us.

"It's been a really good season, the fans have been behind us from day one and to receive such awards shows they appreciate what we've done.

"To join some of the names on the list who've also won these awards, these are really highly-regarded Barnsley players, so it's something I take real pleasure from."

Ethan wasn't alone in having a great season. The voting was very tight between himself, second placed Alex Mowatt and the skipper, Adam Davies who finished third in the fans vote.

This is more proof if it was needed that it's been an outstanding campaign for the Reds, as Pinnock himself agreed with.

"I think you can see that, not only with the club awards, but with the EFL team of the year, the PFA team of the year, we were highly represented in both.

"If you look at our squad, even when Pottsy (Brad Potts) left we had young Jacob Brown who stepped in and has done really well. Cam (McGeehan) came in after Kenny Dougall's injury, Jordan Williams recently, so I think throughout the whole squad the quality has been there."

With so many honours to his name this season, Pinnock admitted that he's struggling to find space for his new trophies!

"I've not really got enough space!" He told us, laughing.

"I will have to clear a room out or something. But no, it's a proud moment to pick up any award and I have to thank our fans for thinking I deserve that recognition."

With one more game to go in the race for automatic promotion, Pinnock is happy that the Reds have the power again to make sure of their own destiny.

"Promotion is in our own hands, the boys are really confident but we know it won't be easy, no game ever is.

"We will be going out there and giving 100% and hopefully that will be enough to take us over the line."